Gangs

News about Gangs, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 15, 2015

Teenage girls Aniah Ferguson, Tilani Marshall, Mercedes Wilkinson and two others are arrested on charges of gang assault and robbery of 15-year-old Ariana Taylor in McDonald's in Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn; assault, captured on cellphone video, has drawn widespread attention and ire. MORE

Mar. 5, 2015

Officials lock down more than half the inmates at New York City's Rikers Island prison for 34 consecutive hours as part of push to curb surging gang violence at facility; unusual measure indicates difficulty officials face in reforming jail despite extensive commitment from administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

Ackquille Pollard, better known as rapper Bobby Shmurda, is arraigned in New York State Supreme Court along with 12 others in his rap group GS9; men are accused of running violent street gang linked with murder, drug sales and gunfights in Brooklyn. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Four people are wounded in shooting outside Rosemary Anderson High School in Portland, Ore; police believe attack is gang related. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

New York City Police release photo of Brendrick Brown, suspect in shooting death of Dune Janelle Jacobs in North Bronx; say Brown was a member of the Young Guns gang and killed Jacobs, who he mistakenly suspected of being a member of a rival gang; police have arrested three other men in connection with shooting. MORE

Aug. 3, 2014

Deterioration of Honduras is exemplified by neighborhood of Chamelecon in the city of San Pedro Sula, where residents face daily grind of murder and mayhem; Honduras has become one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere over the past two decades; gang violence has spurred the child migrant crisis as many of its young people flee to the United States. MORE

Jul. 10, 2014

Increase in gang-related killings of children is a key factor driving surge of migration of young Central Americans to the United States; nowhere is the flow of departures more acute than in San Pedro Sula, Honduran city that has the world's highest homicide rate; Homeland Security Dept reports that between Jan and May of 2014, more than 2,200 children from San Pedro Sula arrived in the US, far more than from any other city in Central America. MORE

Jun. 18, 2014

Over 1,300 law enforcement officers take part in a crackdown on a South Los Angeles gang, arresting 50 members. MORE

Jun. 5, 2014

Dozens of gang suspects are arrested in simultaneous police raids on two Manhattan housing projects, charged with conspiracy, assault and weapons offenses; crimes alleged include two killings and at least 19 shootings between January 2010 and May 2014; early-morning arrests are latest in strategy honed by Manhattan's district attorney and Police Department. MORE

May. 3, 2014

Kahton Anderson, 14-year-old boy who shot and killed innocent bystander Angel Rojas during gang feud on a New York City bus, pleads not guilty to second-degree murder; teen is being tried as an adult and held without bail. MORE

May. 2, 2014

More than 600 suspected gang members are arrested in Homeland Security Dept's latest crackdown on street gangs, part of a larger Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiative that started in 2005 to target street gangs with international ties. MORE

Apr. 22, 2014

Saile Angilau, defendant in a long-running gang prosecution, is shot and killed by deputy United States marshal in Utah's federal courthouse after he allegedly lunged to attack a witness testifying in his trial. MORE

Apr. 1, 2014

Murder of an innocent bystander by 14-year-old Brooklyn student Kahton Anderson leaves New York City wondering how petty turf war between 'crews' of children could breed such random, deadly violence; although city's murder rate has dropped sharply, police say clashes between teenage crews, mini-gangs that grow out of blocks or housing projects, now account for 30 percent of all shootings. MORE

Mar. 22, 2014

Fourteen-year-old Kathon Anderson is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Angel Rojas on a bus in Brooklyn; authorities say Anderson, who was apparently involved in a gang dispute on the bus when he opened fire and mistakenly hit Rojas, will be tried as an adult. MORE

Mar. 20, 2014

Chicago officials say gang-related shootings are steadily declining, with less than half of 188 since beginning of 2014 related to gang activity; cite violence-reduction efforts that prevent gang retaliation and that are prompting the interest of other cities. MORE

Feb. 21, 2014

Idelfonso Mendez, reputed leader of a Bronx gang calling itself the Latin King Goonies, will be sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to gang assault in the first degree; Mendez's gang lured a man to an apartment and then beat and tortured him for hours in one of New York's most savage antigay crimes. MORE

Jan. 17, 2014

Apatzingan Journal; Apatzingan, Mexico, is caught in standoff between federal police and drug gang known as the Knights Templar; police have been accused of attacking citizenry rather than criminals they were sent to contain, leading to widespread cynicism among residents. MORE

Jan. 9, 2014

Rap group Insane Clown Posse files suit against US Justice Department saying Federal Bureau of Investigation decision to classify their fans, who call themselves Juggalos, as criminal gang members is unwarranted and unlawful; several Juggalos who claim they have been subjected to police harassment for identifying with group are also listed as plaintiffs. MORE

Jan. 8, 2014

New York Police Department is pursuing longer-term investigations against neighborhood gangs and finding clues in the dueling rap videos they produce; interest in music videos coincides with a broad shift in patrol strategy, as the department de-emphasizes stop-and-frisk tactics. MORE

Nov. 10, 2013

Fresno State’s college football team is exceedingly popular but its sports logo, a cartoon bulldog, plays a dual role in California community; it is also the symbol of the Bulldogs street gang, whose members crowd area prisons, putting university officials in an excruciatingly awkward position amid a gang crisis that has claimed hundreds of lives. MORE

Oct. 6, 2013

Op-Ed article by reporter Oscar Martinez describes how the incredibly high murder rate in El Salvador declined in 2012 due to a truce brokered between powerful local gangs by the government, but notes Pres Mauricio Funes denies the government's involvement; laments that Funes seems adamant about ending his term without admitting how he has helped save more than 2,000 lives in two years. MORE

Sep. 28, 2013

Terrance Roberts, former leader of Bloods street gang that became one of Denver’s leading anti-gang advocates, is arrested for shooting a man multiple times while setting up a community rally; Roberts, who says he had been surrounded by gang members and feared for his life, is charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon by a felon. MORE

Sep. 27, 2013

Nine members of Chicago street gang called the Hobos face federal racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from drug sales, robberies and five murders; gang is from the South Side, which has been struggling with a spate of drug-related crimes and killings that have put pressure on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to crack down on the city’s criminal gangs. MORE

Sep. 20, 2013

Judge Sterling Johnson Jr rejects request by prosecutors to sequester a jury in murder and racketeering trial of Laron Spicer, Brooklyn man accused of leading Nine-Trey Gangsters, street gang that ran drug empire in Crown Heights for 23 years; in his ruling, Johnson acknowledges that jurors in case would benefit from protection, but says federal budget reductions forced him to reject request. MORE

Sep. 19, 2013

New York City Police Department is shifting emphasis from controversial stop-and-frisk tactic to focus more on rooting out youth gangs; effort known as Operation Crew Cut uses social media to prevent emerging conflicts and build cases against agitators; while new strategy has raised some objections, including privacy concerns, it has also garnered support from stop-and-frisk tactic’s greatest critics. MORE

Sep. 19, 2013

Speculation grows that gang of teenagers was responsible for shooting and fight in Carroll Park, Brooklyn; some residents worry about what it means for affluent neighborhood, but others are more apathetic, dismissing incident as merely part of life in New York City. MORE

Aug. 24, 2013

Battle among rival gangs in prison in eastern Bolivia leaves at least 30 people dead and many burned to death; witnesses say inmates used propane gas tanks as flamethrowers. MORE

Aug. 24, 2013

Memorial outside the Gouverneur Morris House in the Bronx features a photo of 14-year-old Shaaliver Douse, who was shot by police as he chased and shot at another teenager from a rival gang. MORE

Aug. 16, 2013

Education officials in Western Cape Province, South Africa, temporarily close 16 schools, affecting 12,000 students in area near Cape Town, because of spike in gang violence that has left teachers too afraid to go to work. MORE

Aug. 16, 2013

Seventeen-year-old Antonio Lyles is beaten to death in Bronx after opening fire on a group of young men standing in front of the Edenwald housing project; police arrest Ezequiel Pena and Stanley Hampton in connection with the fatal attack, charging both with murder and gang assault among other charges. MORE

Aug. 5, 2013

Rookie New York City police officer shoots and kills 14-year-old Shaaliver Douse after teen fired a handgun at a man he was chasing down Bronx street; Douse is believed to have been part of Nine, a youth gang; shooting appears to fall within Police Dept's guidelines for using deadly force, but nonetheless frames uneasy confluence of issues that officers constantly grapple with in New York's high-crime neighborhoods. MORE

Jul. 14, 2013

John Buntin article describes efforts by Community Safety Partnership, group made up of Watts Gang Task Force and members of Los Angeles Police Department, to help keep peace between gangs in Los Angeles. MORE

Jul. 9, 2013

Brandon Reese of Brooklyn is charged with murder in connection with shooting of four teenagers that left 18-year-old Mario Lopez dead; police believe shooting was outburst of gang violence. MORE

Jun. 29, 2013

Number of homicides in New York City has dropped significantly during first half of 2013, to 154 from 202 in the same period in 2012; in first 178 days of 2013, city averaged less than a murder a day, first time police officials can recall that happening for any sustained period; Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly attributes much of drop to antigang strategy suppressing retaliatory violence among neighborhood gangs. MORE

May. 29, 2013

Honduras's largest and most dangerous street gangs declare truce, offering government peace in exchange for rehabilitation and jobs. MORE

May. 28, 2013

Chicago man Koman Willis is charged with killing 6-month-old girl in case that focuses attention on gang violence on city's South Side. MORE

May. 25, 2013

Friends and family of D'aja Robinson, 14-year-old girl who was shot and killed on bus in Jamaica, Queens, recall honor student with bright smile; authorities suspect Robinson was unintended victim of gang violence. MORE

Apr. 5, 2013

Indictments are unsealed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan against 63 members of three East Harlem gangs, involved in shooting war that began in October 2009, that have brought terrorized neighborhood; all but eight of whom are under 20 years of age, with 49 facing life in prison on charge of conspiracy to commit murder. MORE

Mar. 13, 2013

Six-month-old girl becomes latest victim of Chicago gang violence after gunman ambushes her father, also gang member with long criminal history, while he was changing her diaper along South Side street. MORE

Mar. 3, 2013

The rerelease of an album shines a spotlight on a band from the Bronx, the Ghetto Brothers, that played an important role in the evolution of hip-hop in New York. MORE

Feb. 12, 2013

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls on Illinois lawmakers to increase minimum sentences for gun crimes in state and require violators to serve bulk of those prison sentences; push comes as one piece of larger effort to stem gang-connected violence that contributed to over 500 deaths in Chicago in 2012. MORE

Feb. 10, 2013

Michelle Obama is among those at the Chicago funeral of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who performed at President Obama’s inauguration, and whose shooting death in the South Side has come to represent the cost of gun and gang violence. MORE

Jan. 3, 2013

Killings are rising in Chicago, but most of homicides, majority of which the authorities describe as gang violence, have taken place on city's South and West Sides; 506 homicides were reported in 2012, up 16 percent from 2011. MORE

Dec. 12, 2012

New York State Court of Appeals rules that the Bronx district attorney’s office erred in trying to use a state terrorism charge to prosecute street gangs; decision overturns 2007 conviction of Edgar Morales, admitted Bronx gang member, who was involved in gang shooting in 2002 that left a 10-year-old girl dead; case against Morales was built around belief that gang intimidation of community members loosely fit definitions of terrorism in state statutes. MORE

Dec. 3, 2012

Daniel Hanley, accused by federal prosecutors of a Brooklyn loan-sharking scheme, is labeled as a member of the Westies, Irish-American Hell’s Kitchen gang that specialized in extortion and extreme violence; Hanley says accusations are baffling given that he has no clear ties to Hell's Kitchen, and the Westies gang has not been in existence for years. MORE

Nov. 5, 2012

Study led by researchers at Northwestern University spent almost two decades tracking more than 1,800 Chicago youths who have gone through juvenile criminal justice system, mostly because of gang violence; project offers portrait of both perpetrators and victims in struggling, gang-ridden neighborhoods at time when homicide rate in city has risen sharply. MORE

Oct. 17, 2012

Eight members of three Brooklyn-based motorcycle gangs are arrested and charged with trafficking high-caliber weapons; defendants, ranging in age from 33 to 61, face up to five years in prison if convicted. MORE

Oct. 13, 2012

Michael Wilson Crime Scene column on the way in which an ongoing personal battle between two knots of young men from roughly the same neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side became a senseless war that took the life of 29-year-old Charles Fernandez. MORE

Oct. 10, 2012

New York State's Court of Appeals is considering whether Edgar Morales, member of Bronx street gang St James Boys, is a terrorist; Morales was convicted for the shooting death of 10-year-old Malenny Mendez in 2007 under New York State terrorism statute, enacted after the Sept 11 attacks. MORE

Sep. 20, 2012

Marseille Journal; 20 people have been killed in gang crime in the last nine months in Marseille, one of France's poorest cities; magnitude of violence, which police say is committed mostly by drug dealers using combat weapons to defend their territory, has pushed the government to lay out an ambitious plan to help the city, including increasing the number of police officers. MORE

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Highlights From the Archives

Scared Silent

In recent years, the authorities in New Jersey have struggled to successfully prosecute cases involving all sorts of homicides, as the state’s murder rate has climbed and the problem of witness intimidation has spread.

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Members of a drug gang arrested in connection with the disappearance of 43 college students told investigators that they had killed the students and burned their bodies, the Mexican attorney general said.